Pages

June 8, 2010

G60: Red Sox 3, Spiders 2

Wakefield has now pitched 2,777 innings for the Red Sox -- tops in team history. And he picked up his 177th win for Boston. He needs 16 more to pass Young/Clemens.

All three of the Red Sox runs were unearned. With two outs in the fourth, Trevor Crowe dropped Victor Martinez's easy fly to the track in left-center. Kevin Youkilis doubled off the wall in left to score Martinez and tie the game at 1-1. David Ortiz singled to right field, scoring Yook and giving Boston a 2-1 lead. Adrian Beltre singled Flo to second and Bill Hall's double brought him home.

The Rays beat Toronto 9-0 and the Yankees beat the Orioles 12-7, so New York stays 2 GB, Boston stays 4 GB, and Toronto drops to 5.5 GB.

Washington's Stephen Strasburg made his major league debut against the Pirates, allowing only four hits and two runs in seven innings, while striking out 14, including the last seven batters he faced. The Nats won 5-3. (Only Brooklyn's Karl Spooner struck out more batters in his MLB debut: 9-3-0-3-15, on September 22, 1954.)

June 8, 1920: As his Cincinnati teammates argue (at length) an umpire's call on a ball hit down the foul line, Reds CF Edd Roush lays down in the grass and goes to sleep. When a teammate has to go out and physically wake him up, Roush is ejected for delaying the game.

167 comments:

1909 - Clarence Henley of the San Francisco Seals throws the longest complete game shutout in pro baseball history: 24 innings in a 1-0 win over the Oakland Oaks.

1950 - The Red Sox, a day after crushing the Browns 20-4, beat them 29-4.

1986 - In the longest nine-inning game by time in American League history, the Orioles beat the Yankees 18-9 in 4:16.

1989 - The Pirates send 16 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning and score 10 runs against the Phillies. Pittsburgh announcer Jim Rooker vows that if the Pirates lose this game, he'll walk back to Pittsburgh. ... And the Pirates do lose the game, 15-11. After the season, Rooker organizes a charity walk from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.

***Boston's bullpen is struggling this season. Collectively, Red Sox relievers have a 4.68 xFIP, besting just the Indians, Royals and Angels among American League clubs. The only Sox reliever with a sub-four xFIP is Daniel Bard, at 3.29.

You may be surprised to learn that Jonathan Papelbon, he of 2.6 Wins Above Replacement per season as a full-time reliever from 2006-2009, is among the most egregious offenders.

In 24 innings pitched, the famed river dancer is walking a tight rope — his 3.00 ERA doesn't look so bad, but his xFIP sits at 5.02. With -0.3 WAR, Papelbon has arguably been the least effective of Boston’s bullpen options. ...***

xFIP is a variation on FIP - Fielding Independent Pitching: "how many earned runs per nine a pitcher would have given up, if performance on balls in play and timing were assumed to be league average"

Oh, well, I make no pretense that I follow the baseball draft. After reading the article in the NYTimes about the players who were drafted before Jeter, almost all of whom are for the most part forgotten or unknown, why bother paying attention to the draft? When they get to the majors, then it gets relevant.

Amy: $15.1M contract to rookie = highest ever. Named top pitching prospect. Threw no-hitter in final start in college. Only collegiate player selected to compete for the US in the 2008 summer olympics. Etc.

Amy: $15.1M contract to rookie = highest ever. Named top pitching prospect. Threw no-hitter in final start in college. Only collegiate player selected to compete for the US in the 2008 summer olympics. Etc.

I have no clue what his politics are, but I like him also. He just seems like a decent person and is always a stalwart for the team. Watching him take the hit in 2003 was painful, and he was so poised about the whole thing.

someone in the nba also spoke out, i think, about the national anthem - i wrote a letter of support to the ny daily news and they ended up taking my pic and putting my ltr in a weekend quote thing with 3-4 other readers.

Hooty-hooo!Just got in from m first practice with the Big League team (16-18 yr olds) Glad to see a lead, wish it was bigger(I will avoid the obvious old punch line)Also glad to see m BL team looks like it might be pretty good.I'll have to scan the thread to hear about the "fielding gaffe" referred to on the Sox website